Dave Goldsmith
Founder of the Andean Medical Mission
Ophthalmic scientist, born in Bolivia and working to find and treat blindness for the people living in isolated communities in the jungles and along the many rivers of the lowlands.

Living anywhere as a blind person is difficult. However, it is disproportionally harsh in the Amazon and living here as a blind or partially sighted person, very hard indeed. Dave and his team have been working to eliminate avoidable blindness in Northern Bolivia since 2011.

Cut off from civilization by a challenging jungle environment, large distances from health care services and precluded from treatment by high cost and low incomes, blindness in Northern Bolivia is nearly four times higher than that of the UK.

Dave’s has many beautiful slides and film to show the way of life here and explains the logistical challenges of running a mobile eye hospital to help these people. Northern Bolivia has a diverse and rich culture and is home to some amazing wildlife much of which is shown throughout the talk. We look forward to seeing you.

Marylebone Green is in Regents Park, close to Regents Park tube. Turn left as you leave the station, walk along Marylebone Road. Turn right into Park Square West and at the end of this street cross the Outer Circle and enter the park. There is a coffee bar on the left and a children’s playground on the right. Beyond the playground is a wooded area where you will spot us.

Chuck Sturtevant carried out several months of fieldwork, producing both a written ethnography and an ethnographic film, in the town of Chicaloma, in the Yungas of La Paz. Chicaloma is widely known as an Afro-Bolivian community. Its Saya dancers and drummers are known throughout Bolivia, and its football team is recognised throughout the Yungas. But within the confines of the community, this identification is hotly contested. Those who claim descent from enslaved Africans emphasise their rootedness in the area and their connections to family and friends within the community; they trace their family histories through parents and uncles who lived nearby, recall their efforts to revive Afro-Bolivian dance and culture, narrate their role in building up the infrastructure of the community, and recount their exploits on the football pitch. Meanwhile, those residents of Chicaloma who do not claim descent from enslaved Africans have different ideas of belonging and what it means to be from Chicaloma. In this presentation, which includes a documentary film, Chuck will talk about his experiences and focus in particular on ideas of belonging and identity in this Afro-Bolivian community – an area often absent from Bolivian political debate.

Bolivian voters will again be going to the polls on 21 February 2016, in a third national election in two years. In October 2014 President Evo Morales and Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera were re-elected for a third term and sub-national elections for governors and mayors were held in March 2015. The Referendum to be staged on Sunday 21 February will consult the electorate on amending the 2009 Constitution to enable Morales and Garcia Linera, whose current term of office ends in January 2020, to stand for a fourth term until January 2025. A No vote would mean no change to the current constitution, barring Morales and Garcia Linera from standing for office in the 2019 general election, while a Yes would enable them to seek the fourth term. The panel including Dr. John Crabtree and Alberto Souviron will analyse the social, political and economic implications of these results and complex manoeuvring behind the scenes leading up to the Referendum.ADDENDA: Traditional Press and Social Media Perspectives

In January this year, President Morales declared the political right had been reduced to communicating via traditional media and social networks. At the beginning of February, he complained about attacks he received in social media. In the meantime, various controversies and accusations have populated this space and later reflected in the traditional press. The campaign in favour and against the re-election of the President and Vice-President has been heated in all media.

In his panel presentation digital media specialist Alberto Souviron will explore whether social media is a fortress of the political right and the opposition? He will also examine if web 2.0 reflects the real debate in Bolivia, and analyse social media use by the No and Yes campaigns.

Explosions of colour and the uniquely vivid Andean symbology woven into the architecture herald the rise of the socalled ‘chola bourgeoisie’ – the ‘new rich’ of El Alto and the north of La Paz, who have made their money in commerce, often informally. In addition to the spectacular architecture, El Alto also now boasts luxury hotels and some of the most expensive property in the country. Mobility between the two cities is also changing, as the ‘new rich’ seek property in the more salubrious areas of La Paz, such as La Zona Sur. The development of new urban transport networks – the cable car and Puma bus – have opened up new connections in the city that are changing culture and identity, and transforming social divisions that are centuries old. In this talk, Kate Maclean reports back on the first stage of her Leverhulme project on the changing cityscapes of El Alto and La Paz. She will look at particular examples of the dramatic changes to the urban and cultural landscape in the two cities, and discuss reasons for the rise of the ‘chola bourgeoisie’.